1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a hybrid circuit element including various redox electrical elements which are formed by using oxidation reduction materials such as redox proteins, and a manufacturing method therefor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One example of a conventional rectifier element for integrated circuits has a MOS structure as shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 designates a p-type silicon substrate 12, an n-type region; 13, a p-type region; 14, an n-type region; 15, SiO.sub.2 films; and 16 and 17, electrodes. That is, a p-n junction (the p-type region 13 - the n-type region 14) is formed between the two electrodes 16 and 17, thus showing a rectification characteristic.
The conventional MOS structure rectifier element, being designed as describe above, can be finely machined, and a 256K-bit LSI has been put in practical use which comprises the rectifier elements and transistor elements similar in structure thereto.
In order to increase the memory capacity and the operation speed of an integrated circuit, it is essential to reduce the size of its elements; however, for instance an element using Si has the limitation that, in an extremely fine pattern of the order of 0.2 .mu.m, the average free path of electrons is substantially equal to the size of the element and the independence of the element can no longer be held. Thus, it can be expected that the silicon technology developing day by day will run into a blank wall when reducing the element size. Therefore, there has been a strong demand for provision of a novel electrical circuit element which can break the technological barrier of 0.2 .mu.m mentioned above.
Under this circumstance, the present inventors have developed a rectifier element showing a rectification characteristic similar to that of a p-n junction formed by p-type and n-type semiconductors, and a transistor element showing a transistor characteristic similar to that of a p-n-p junction transistor by using electron transfer proteins existing in an organism; i.e., by utilizing the redox potential difference thereof. As a result, it has become possible to make the element size extremely small to a biomolecular level, thereby to permit the high density and high speed operation of circuits. These elements have been described in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,541 (or German DE No. 3600564A1).
Furthermore, in order to form a redox electrical element circuit with such elements, elements such as resistors and capacitors which show a high affinity for these elements have been developed. This development has been followed by how to form a circuit with these elements. For this problem, it can be considered that it is possible to form the circuit by using both the redox electrical elements of bio-materials and conventional semiconductor elements.